Aptitude tester



Feb. 15, 1944. H. w. WICKES APTITUDE TESTER FiledaMay 29, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 W, W W. a 7 m7 ,w/vr

Feb. 15, 1944.

H. W. WICKES APTITUDE TESTER Filed May 29, 1942 Feb. 15, 1944. w c 2,341,678

APTITUDE TESTER Filed May 29, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Feb. 15, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APTITUDE TESTER Henry W. Wickes, Grosse Ile Township, Wayne County, Mich.

Application May 29, 1942, Serial No. 445,019

3 Claims.

stood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which one way of carrying out the invention is shown for illustrative purposes.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an aptitude tester constructed in accordance with the present invention;

given to the subject, the real test ordinarily being a longer period such, for example, as three minutes. The general procedure of operations with regard to the test will now be described as follows.

When certain switch mechanisms, all as more particularly hereinafter described, are operated by the person who is conducting the test, who may be hereinafter referred to as the supervisor, several different types of visual-indicator means will be automatically actuated by the mechanism of the tester, which will engage the subjects attention and he is thereupon expected to. do certain things in response to-the actuation Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1, with a chairfor seating the person to be tested;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of Fig. 2;

Figs. 4a and 41) when placed together form a schematic view illustrating the essentials of the construction and mode of operation of the aptitude tester; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view in the direction of arrow 5 of Fig. 4b, of a fragment of the contactor mechanism.

In the description and claims, the various parts and steps are identified by specific terms for convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application as the prior art will permit.

Referring to the drawings showing the particular form of the invention chosen for illustration after the person to be tested, hereinafter frequently referred to as the subject, has been given an explanation as to the nature of the test he is to take on the aptitude tester II), he will preferably be seated in a chair ll before the aptitude tester Ill. The headrest l2 can be adjusted about its frictionally-held pivot l3 on the bar M which is slidable in a carrier l5 pivoted to the bracket l6 secured to the top of the cablnet IT. A clamp l8 serves to frictionally lock the parts I and IS in any desired adjusted position. The headrest l2 will preferably be adjusted so that the subject can comfortably hold his forehead near or against the front face l9 of th headrest I2 while he is being tested.

The subject will then preferably be given a short preliminary test which, for example, may be of one-minute length and may be hereinafter referred to as the warm-up period. After the warm-up period has been given, the real test is of at least most of these visual-indicator means,

and the lapses of time which occur between the timenthat a given visual indicator-means goes on, until the subject takes the proper action in response thereto, is recorded upon one or the other of the two timer-devices 20 and 2|. The timer-devices 20 and 2| are shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings as being located upon the top of the cabinet I! and as facing toward the rear of the machine away from the subject so he will not be able to read the time indications made by their respective hands or pointers 22 and 23. If desired, the timers 20 and 2| could be secured to the rear of the cabinet I! or placed upon a separate table in the rear of the cabinet out of sight of the subject.

When the mechanism is started in motion by the supervisor, one or another of the two red lights 24, 25 or one or another of the three green lights 26, 21, 28 or the white light 29 may be flashed on by the mechanism, or the meter-hand 30 of the meter 3| may be caused to move from its normal central upright position to the right or to th left depending upon certain automatic electric contact mechanisms to be more fully hereinafter described. I

If one of the red lights 24 or 25 is flashed on, the subject is supposed to put it out by'pushing straight in axially on the end of the red-light push-button switch 32 as quickly as he notices one of the red lights go on, and the interval of delay between the time one of the red lights goes on and the time the subject puts it out, is recorded in seconds by the travel of the indicatorhands 22 of the lights-timer or time-recorder 20. If one of the green lights 26', 21, 28 lights up, the subject is supposed to put it out by pressing axially upon the green-light push-button switch 33, thus breaking the circuit and causing certain hereinafter described relay mechanism to act in a certain way so that when the switch 33 returns to its normally closed position, the green light will not relight and againthe time lapse between the time a green light went on and the time that the subject put it out by pushing upon the proper push-button switch 33 being added upon the lights-timer 26 by a further rotation of the indicator-hands 22.

If the meter-indicator hand 30 of the meter ll moves clockwise, the subject is supposed to quickly rotate the meter-control knob 34 counterclockwise to just the proper degree to bring the meter-indicator hand 36 to the central or zero position within the dark area 35, and the time it has taken the subject to move the meter-hand back to zero will be indicated by the travel of the hands 28 of the meter-timer 2|; Similarly, if the meter-hand 36 rotates counterclockwise, the subject brings it back to zero by rotating the control knob 34 clockwise. But if so desired, the device could be constructed so that if the mechanism moved the meter-hand clockwise, the control-knob would have to be moved clockwise to bring it back to zero, and if the mechanism moved the meter-hand counterclockwise, the control-knob would have to be moved counterclockwise to move the meterhand back to zero. If the white light 28 flashes on, the subject is not expected to do anything about this, the white light merely being used as a distraction to test the subjects ability under distracting influences. After the white light has remained lighted a short while, it is put out automatically.

After the test has been concluded, the number of seconds that is indicated on the two timers 20 .and 2| may be added up, and they give what may be called the score of the subject. Broadly speaking, the lower the score, within certain limitations, the-better the aptitude indicated for the subject who has taken the test.

Referring to the schematic view illustrated in Figs. 4a and 4b placed together and read as one figure, the switches 36, 31, 38 and 39 are normally closed as shown, these switches being merely for use by a technician in testing parts of the apparatus, and so far as an understanding of the present invention is concerned, could be omitted. If so desired, they could be placed within the cabinet I! so as only to be accessible from the rear thereof by opening the rear of the cabinet.

Ordinary 110-volt alternating current is used for part of the mechanism as, for example, by plugging in the plug-connector 46 into an ordinary alternating current supply, and direct current is used for other parts of the mechanism, as, for example, a 24-volt direct current by plugging in a plug-connector 4| to a suitable source of supply, which may, if desired, be obtained from the standard 110-volt alternating current by means of a suitable transformer and rectifier, all as is well known to those skilled in the art. The standard alternating current supply from the plug-connector 46 is indicated as being carried over wires that are shown by extra heavy black lines, while the direct current coming from the plug-connector 4| is carried over wires indicated by relatively-light lines, to thus aid the person reading the drawing in tracing the various circuits.

Prior to explaining in full detail the mode of operation of the device, a detail description will be given of certain of the more complicated subassemblies of the device. Thus, at the lower portion of Fig. 4b, the driving motor 42 through gears 43 and 44 drives a main-shaft 45 indicated in broken lines, which main-shaft 45 extends through a hole 46 in a 'flxed insulation contactor-plate 41, and has rigidly secured on the shaft 45 to be rotatable therewith, a contactor-arm 48, an insulation meter-actuating cam 48, a gear 50 and a one-minute cam 5| of insulation. A three-minute cam 52 of insulation-is mounted for free rotation on the shaft 45 and is driven from the gear 56 by the speed reduction gears 53 and 54 and shaft 55 to give the three-minute cam 52 a speed of rotation of one-third of the rate of rotation of the oneminute cam 5|. It has been found satisfactory to have the warm-up period extend for a length of one minute, and the actual test period extend for a length of three minutes, although, of course, these periods can be of any length desired.

The contactor-arm 48 has a relatively-thin spring contact-portion or -member 56 adapted to be adjusted toward or from the contactorplate 41 by an adjusting-screw 51 which is threaded through the rigid portion of the contactor-arm 48 and permits of adjusting the contact-member 56 to give a brief period of contact. When the contactor-arm 48 is rotated to a position to cause its contact-member 56 to contact with the fixed contact 58 carried by the contactor-plate 41, an electric circuit is closed through a coil 59 of the lock-in relay 60 which pulls up the contact-carrying bar 6| to close the switch-contacts 62 which results in the red light 25 being lighted. Even though the contactmember 56 now moves on beyond the contact 58 to thus break the current between them, the

current through the coil 59 of the relay 68 continues to flowinasmuch as the contacts 62, when closed, serve to continue the current through the coil 59 as well as to continue the current through the red light 25. The current passing through the contacts 62 also passes through the spring-pressed red-light push-off switch 32. Inasmuch as the switch-contacts 63 of the lock-in relay 60 are also closed, they serve to cause current to pass through the lightstimer 26, to thus start the indicator-hands 22 on their time-indicating rotation. Thus, it will be seen that even though the contact-member 56 of the contactor-arm 48 has passed beyond and-out of electrical contact with the contact 58 to break the circuit therethrough, the electrical circuit through the red light 25, through the red light push-off button or switch 32, and through the lights-timer 20 continues until the circuit is temporarily broken by pushing on the springreturned red-light push-of! switch-button 32, whereupon the spring 64 of the lock-in relay 6!! pulls the contact-carrying bar 6| to its lower or open position to thus break the circuits through contacts 62 and 63 of the relay '60 and thus put out the red light 25 and stop the rotation of the hands of the lights-timer 26. It will be observed from the electrical connections surrounding the contactor-plate 41 that when the contactmember 56 rotates sufliciently far to engage the other'contacts 58, that the actions just described will again take place.

2,341,878 timer-circuit, and therefore as soon as the contact-member '56 passes beyond and out of contact with thecontact 65, the white light 29 goes out. It will be noted that there are two other white light-contacts 65 located at various places around the contactor-plate 41.

In a similar manner to that described concerning the contacts 58, when the circuit is closed through either of the two contacts 66 on the contactnr-plate 4! by the contact-member 56, the green light 29, the lights-timer 28 and the greenlight shut-off push button 33 will be brought into the circuit by means of a lock-in relay 61, all in a manner similar to that hereinbefore described concerning red light 25 and the lock-in relay 68. In a similar way, when the contact-member 56 rotates to a position to contact either of the two contacts 68, the circuit is closed through the red light 24, the lights-timer 28 and the red-light put-out switch 32 by a lock-in relay 69. And when the contact-member 56 engages any one of the three contacts 18, the green light 26. the lights-t mer 28 and the green-light put-out switch 33 are energized by a lock-in relay 1 I. And when the contact-member 56 engages either of the two contacts 12, the green light 21, lightstimer 28 and the green-light put-out switch 33 are energized by a lock-in relay 13.

The mode of action of the meter-hand 38 of the meter 3|. and the mode of steps to be taken in bringing the hand back to its central or zero position, and the portion of the apparatus which brings this about, will now be explained. The tapped resistor-coil 14 has exactly the same resistance as the infinitesimally-variable resistorcoil 15, and has its ends I6 and 11 respectively connected to the ends 18 and 19 of the resistorcoil and these ends of the resistors 14 and I5 are connected to the direct-current power-source or connector-plug 4 I. A wire is connected to the tapped resistor 14 at its exact mid-point 88 to divide the tapped resistor 14 into two equal parts or sections indicated respectively by the brackets 11 and b, and includes the coil 8| of the sensitive relay 82, thence through the meter 3| and connects at 83 to the contactor-arm 84 carried by the meter control-knob 34, so that when the contactor-arm 84 is in its centrol or zero upright position as shown on the drawings, it divides the resistor 75 into two equal parts or sections indicated by the brackets a and b which respectively correspond to the parts a and b of the resistor 14. Thus, the central connection 88 to the middle of resistor 14 extending through the coil 8| of relay 82 through the meter 3| to the contactor 84, with the coil-sections a. b, a, b, in efi'ect, constitutes a Wheatstone bridge. As long as the contactor-arm 84 is in the central upright or zero position shown in Fig. 4a, the resistances of the coil-sections a, b, a and b are so balanced that no current will flow in either direct on from connection 88 of resistor 14 through the various parts described to the connection 83 of contactorarm 84, and therefore the meter-hand 38 of the meter 3| will stand at its zero or central position as shown in Fig. 4a. No current is passing through the meter 3| because of the connection from 88 to 83 across exactly balanced resistances in accordance with the well known principle of the Wheatstone bridge.

If We now assume that the meter-actuating cam 49 at the lower part of Fig. 422 on shaft 45 is rotated to a position to cause the contact-carrying arm 85 to rise up on top of the high cam-section c, this closes the switch-contacts 86 to thereby short circuit the portion of the tapped resistor 74 indicated by the bracket '0', to thus throw the resistances a, b, a and b out of their previous balance in accordance with the principles of the Wheatstone bridge, whereupon direct current will fiow in one direction through the coil 8| of the balanced-relay 82 to cause the switch-arm 81 of the relay 82 to swing into contact with one or the other of the contacts 88, 89, depending on the direction of the current, to thus close the circuit through the coil 98 of the relay 9| to thus close the switch-contacts 92 to close the alternatingcurrent power-circuit through the meter-timer 2|. Also included in this circuit is the timersswitch 93 which of course, must be in closed position. If the timers-switch 93 is left open, then the power circuit will not be closed through the meter-timer 2|, but this does not otherwise affect the circuit, and the current that flows through the coil 8| and the meter 3| as a result of the unbalanced resistances of the resistors just described, will cause the meter-hand 38 to swing in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction. depending upon the direction of flow of the direct current. If the meter control-knob 34 is rotated in the opposite direction to that in which the meter-hand 38 has been moved by the current passing through the meter, so as to move the contactor-arm 84 just the proper amount, the resistances a, a, b, b' of the Wheatstone bridge construction are again put in balance so no current flows through the meter 3|, and the meter-hand 38 is in consequence, caused to move back to the zero area 35. And 'as there now is no current flowingthrough the coil 8| of the balanced relay 82, the switch-arm 81 thereof moves to the intermediate position shown in Fig. 4b with the consequence that the circuit to the coil 98 of the relay 9| is broken so that the spring 95 opens the switch-contacts 92 to thus stop the metertimer 2|.

Now if it be assumed that the meter-actuating cam 49 has rotated to a position to permit the switch-contact-carrying arm 85 to drop down to the cam-surface d, the switch-contacts 86 will be opened to restore resistance-section c back as an effective part of section a of resistor 14, and switch-contacts 94 Will be closed, with the result that the portion of the resistor 14 indicated by the bracket d will be short-circuited or cut out. to thus throw the Wheatstone bridge construction previously described out of balance, with the result that current will flow from the connection 88 of the resistor 14 through the coil 8| and the meter 3| to the connection 83 of the resistor 15 in the opposite direction, to thus close the circuit through the switch-arm 81 and one of the contacts 88, 89, to bring the meter-timer 2| into the alternating-current power-circuit, assuming the switch 93 to be closed, in a similar manner to that described heretofore. Inasmuch as the current now passes in the opposite direction from the direction it passed previously, it causes the meterhand 38 to swing anticlockwise if, for example, it swung clockwise previously, and in order to bring the meter-hand 3| back to its central or zero region indicated by the dark area 35, the meter control-knob 34 must be rotated clockwise to bring the contact-arm 84 to a position to balance the various sections a. a, b, b of the Wheatstone construction, with the result that the current flowing through the meter will be reduced to substantially zero, to thus bring the meter-hand 38 back to its central or zero position and again stop the meter-timer.

Now when the meter-cam 48 rotates to a position to cause the switch-contact-carrying arm 85 to move up to the top of the cam-portion c, the

resistance-section d is restored in the circuit'of the resistor 14 and the resistance-section c' is cut out, thus so unbalancing the Wheatstone bridge construction as to throw the meter-hand 80 in the opposite or clockwise direction, and to bring it back to zero, the meter control-knob 84 is rotated in the manner heretofore described in the counterclockwise direction.

When the meter-cam 48 rotates further to permit the switch-arm 85 to drop to the intermediate-stage cam-surface 88, the switch-arm 85 moves to the position it occupies in Fig. 4b, in which the circuit is broken through both sets of switch-contacts 88 and 84, so that now the resistance-section c' of the resistor 14 is restored back in the circuit, so that now the resistor-circuit I4 includes its two full-length resistance-sections a and b, but inasmuch as the contactor-arm 84 had been previously moved to balance the circuit when the contactor-arm 85 was resting on the camsurface to cut out the resistance-section c, it will now be necessary to rotate the meter controlknob 34 in the opposite direction to again bring the meterhand 30 to its neutral position and halt the rotation of the hands ,of the meter-timer 2|.

And when the meter-cam 48 rotates further tothe position to permit the switch-arm 85 to drop to the cam-surface d, the resistance-section d is short-circuited or cut out from the resistor 1.4 to thus unbalance the Wheatstone bridge con struction and cause the meter-hand 3| to again be swung in the same direction as it had just previously been swung, so that in order to bring the meter-hand 30 back to its central position, the meter control-knob 34 must again be rotated-in the same direction to bring the meter-hand back to its central or zero position, and again stop the rotation of the hands of the meter-timer 2 I. And this mode of action will continue as the metercam 48 continues to rotate and the switch-arm 85 moves to one or another of the various cam-surfaces of the meter-cam 48, the action of the meter-hand 30 and the necessary movement that must be given to the meter control-knob 34 to bring it back to zero, and the consequences of these various actions on various parts of the apparatus, will be understood from the description of the portion that has already hereinbefore been given.

Of course, various intervals of time which elapse between the times that the meter-hand 30 has been thrown off-center until it has been returned by the proper rotation and degree of rotation of the knob 34, and these are all totaled up by the successive rotational movements of the hands of the meter-timer 2|. In a similar manner, when either a red light or a green light has been flashed on by the machine, and then-has been put out by the subject, the intervals of time that the red and green lights have been burning before they have been put out by the subject pushing the proper switch push button, are also totaled up on the lights-timer 20.

It will now be assumed that it is desired to givethe subject a warm-up period, which in the particular machine shown and described, amounts to a one-minute period, and thus while it could be any desired period, will be referred to in the description as a one-minute period, for convenience of description, it being assumed that the shaft 45 makes one complete revolution per minute and that the shaft 45 and the parts mounted thereon are in the positions shown in Fig. 4b.

Assuming now that the subject is seated in the chair II before the aptitude tester III, preferably with his forehead near or against the surface I8 of the headrest II, the supervisor who is to conduct the test-will first ordinarily have the timers-switch 83 open, inasmuch as it is not necessary to havethe timers 20 and 2| record any time intervals, since the results of the warmupperiods are not intended to be recorded, inasmuch as the intention of the one-minute period is merely to familiarize the subject with the controls and manner of operation ofthe device as a preliminary to the actual test. The supervisor now sees that the selector-switch 81 is connected with the one-minute starting-switch 88 which preferably is a delayed-action switch or push button such that when it is pressed down to closed position, it returns to open position by action of the spring 88 only after a predetermined interval of time has elapsed, as a result of the dashpot I00 or any other suitable delayed-action mechanism. Thus, when the one-minute starting-switch 88 is depressed to closed position, it energizes the coil IOI of the motor-starting relay I02, with the result that the switch-arm I 08 is pulled down to close the switch-contacts I04 to 2close the circuit through the electric mor As soon as the one-minute cam 5| is rotated tion in the notch I08, to thus open the contacts I01 and shut off the current to the coil "II of the relay I02,.whereupon the spring I08 will pull up to open the switch I04 and in consequence break the electric circuit to the motor 42 and thus cause the same to stop rotation which in consequence stops rotation of the shaft 45 and associated parts.

During this one-minute period which exists while the one-minute cam 45 is making one complete revolution, the contact-member 56 will be contacting at successive times one or another of the contacts 58, 65, 66, etc., on the contactor plate 41 to light one or another of the red, green and white lights which will each be lighted a number of times during the single revolution of the one-minute cam 5| and the single revolution of the contact-member 55, and each time a red light lights, the subject is expected to push switchbutton 32 to shut off the red light as quickly as he can, and each time that a, green light lights, he is supposed to'push the switch-button 33 to shut off the green light as quickly as he can. The white light, as has been previously described, does not require any action on his part, inasmuch a it automatically goes out after a certain interval of time, as hereinbefore explained. While the red, green and white lights are being lighted one at a time as a result 01' the rotation of the contactmember 56, the meter-cam 48 is also making one complete revolution and, depending upon whether a cam-surface c, d, c, 86, d, or so forth engages the switch-arm 85, the meter-hand 30 will at intervals be swung clockwise and counterclockwise in a manner hereinbefore fully described,

and each time that the meter-hand 25 is moved by the mechanism from its center or zero position at the dark area 35, the subject is supposed to manipulate the meter control-knob 34 in a manner heretofore fully explained, to rotate it in the opposite direction to the direction in which the meter-hand has been moved by the mechanism, to bring the meter-hand back to its zero position. As previously mentioned, during this one-minute warm-up period, a timers-switch 93 has purposely been left open so as not to include the timers 20 and 2| in the circuit, as this warm-up period is not intended to make any timing test, but rather merely to give the subject a chance to familiarize himself with the mechanism and the steps necessary to take, in order to prepare him reasonably for the real three-minute test that will later be described. It will be noted that the spacing of the various fixed contacts carried by the contactor-plate 41 are at varied angles so that there will be no regular interval or time that the sub: ject will be able to get used to, to expect something to happen, and this is also true of the lengths of the various cam-portions of the metercam 49, so that the time between successive throws of the meter-hand 30 will be at irregular intervals so as to be more or less unexpected when they occur. Also, the times whenthe meterhand 30 are thrown by the mechanism in one direction or the other will preferably have an irregular period ofrelation with regard to the times that the lights are turned on by the mechanism, so that the subject'will at all times find it necessary, if he wishes to make a good score, to keep his attention on both the lights and the meter, so as to be ready to take the proper action when either a red light is lighted or 'a green light is lighted or the meter-hand has been thrown by the mechanism in one direction or the other off from its center or zero position.

three-minute test. As the preliminary or one-' minute warm-up period occupied exactly one complete revolution of the one-minute cam 5|, and as the three-minute cam 52 is driven through the gearing 50, 53, 55, 54, from its position shown in Fig. 41) at one-third the speed of the oneminute cam 5|, the switch-arm III] will be resting upon the outer cylindrical surface III at one-third revolution around from the notch II2 so that the circuit, so far as the switch-contacts II3 are concerned, is closed to the electric-drive motor 42, but the latter will not now run because the selector-switch 9'! stands at the position it was connected to the one-minute startingswitch 98. The supervisor will now close the timers-switch 93 which will bring the timers and 2| into the circuit, so that they will perform their timing function in the manner hereinbefore fully set forth.

Assuming now that the supervisor is ready to give the .subject the regular three-minute test on the aptitude tester, he throws the selectorswitch 91 into connection with the three-minute starting-switch IIO, which is a delayed-action switch similar to the. one-minute starting-switch 08, and looks to see if the re-cycling pilot-light II4, which may, for example, be of an amber or other suitable color, has lighted as a result of his throwing the selector-switch as Just stated. If the light II4 does not light, that is an indication that the three-minute cam 52 has not rotated enough to permit the switch-arm I [0 to drop into the notch II2, since it would not have completed the rotation but would only have made one-third of a rotation from the position shown in Fig. 4b, since it travels one-third as fast as the one-minute cam 5|, and therefore, as the switch-arm H0 is riding along the cylindrical surface III of the three-minute cam 52, the switch-contacts II3 will be held closed, thus causing the motor 42 to continue to rotate until the three-minute cam 52 has made one complete revolution, whereupon the switch-arm I I0 will drop into the notch II2, thus breaking the power-circuit to the motor 42 and causing the motor and all the driving mechanism to come to a stop. But inasmuch as the breakingof the circuit through the contacts II3 has caused a breaking of the flowof current through the coil |0I of the relay I02,tothus break the circuit through the contacts I04 to the driving-motor 42 to thus stop the driving-motor, the spring I09 now pulls the switch-bar I03 up to close the switch-contacts II5 of the relay I02, thus closing the circuit through the recycling light II4 to thus light this light, which tells the supervisor that the switch-arm H0 is now resting in the notch II2 of the cam 52 and that the mechanism is therefore in proper position for the starting of the three-minute test period.

The supervisor now closes the three-minute starting-switch H5. The switch II8 remains in closed position for a sufllcient length of time until the switch-arm 0 has ridden up out of a notch II2 onto the cylindrical surface III to thereupon close the circuit through the switchcontacts II3 to thus insure the maintaining of the power on the driving-motor 42, after which the delayed-action three-minute starting-switch II6 opens. Inasmuch as the drive-shaft 45 will now continue to be rotated by the drive-motor ,42 for one complete revolution of the three-minute cam 52 and for three complete revolutions of the contactor-arm 43 and its contact-member 56, and of the meter-cam 48, the various red lights, green lights and white lights will be lighted, and the meter-hand 30 will be moved in opposite directions from the center or zero position, in a manner that has been hereinbefore fully described. During this three-minute test period, the various red, green and white lights are being lighted one at a time at intervals and the meterhand 25 is being shifted to one side and the other at various times from its center or zero position at the darkened scale area 35, all as has been hereinbefore fully described. And. each time a red light is lighted, for example, the lightstimer 20 is also brought into the circuit instantly and continues to have its indicator-hand rotate until the subject pushes on the push-out switch 32 to put out the red light that had been lighted, at which time the lights-timer 20 is disconnected from the circuit also, so that the lights-timer hands stop traveling until another red or green light is lighted and then the lights-timer 20 is again instantly brought into the circuit and its hands start to rotate on further to measure the time-interval that the light remains lighted until it also has been put out by operation of the proper push-out switch, it being necessary ior him to push the push-out switch 32 to put out a red light and to push the push-out switch 33 to put out a green light, all as herelnbefore described more fully.

And when the meter-hand 80 is swung in one direction away from its center or zero position the subject must rotate the control-knob 34 in the opposite direction to such an amount as will bring the meter-hand back to its zero position area, the period of time elapsing from the time that the meter-hand was thrown of! zero by the mechanism until the subject has brought the meter-hand back to its proper position within the dark area 35 by proper manipulation of the control-knob 34, being recorded upon the metertimer 2| each time. When the white light 24 is flashed on, there is nothing for the subject to do about it, but if he permits himself to be distracted or excited about it, he may not notice that the meter-hand 30 has been thrown all from its center position, thereby permitting the-meter-hand to remain 011 its zero position a long time with the consequence that the meter-timer 2| will be recording a longer period which counts against the subject.

When the-shaft 45 has made three complete revolutions, the switch-arm will again drop into the notch 2 thus breaking the circuit through the switch-contacts H3 and thereupon stopping the motor 42 and ca g the re-cycling pilot light 4 to lightthereby telling the supervisor that the three-minute test period has been completed. Thereupon the supervisor lists down the number of seconds of total elapsed time it took the subject to put out the red and green lights that is totaled up on the lights-timer 20, and also notes down the total number of seconds that have been totaled up on the meter-timer 2| which indicates the total time that the meter-- hand 30 has remained away from its zero or dark area 35.

The time shown by the two timers 20 and 2| can be added together to thus produce a total figure that can be regarded as the score made by the subject. Broadly speaking, the lower the score made by the subject, within certain limits, the higher the degree of aptitude of the subject.

Inasmuch as the main drive motor 42 and the motors (not shown) of the timers 20 and 2| are driven by alternating current, these motors can be synchronous electric motors.

While the aptitude tester of this invention has been primarily designed for testing prospective aviators, it could be used to test bus drivers, motormen, railroad engineers, truck drivers and so forth. One important point about the present invention is that it is purposely made so the mode of operation of the controls do not resemble those of any machine, so that the present invention provides a means for testing a persons aptitude without including in as partof the score he makes, that portion of his ability that is due to experience-in the particular field that he may be tested for. The present aptitude tester tests the subjects time of reaction, ability to perform two operations simultaneously within certain limits of accuracy in each, dexterity of his arms, his memory, his angle of vision, his ability to carry out instructions with precision, color blindness, rate of absorption or accumulation of experience, ability to adjust controls to any predetermined value, ability to use sound when available as an aid in making adjustments, fatigue (if test is continued sufliciently long) and resistance to altitude or the aptitude tester is placed in an evacuated chamber with the subject during the test).

The invention may be carried out. in other specific ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equiv different colored lights and said second visual-indicator means to on positions; three oil-actuator means adapted to be independently actuated by a person to independently actuate said different colored lights and said second visual-actuator means to oil positions; and time-recording means for recording the lengths or time each color 0! said lights and said second visual-indicator means remain in on positions.

2, An" aptitude tester including: means; first and second visual-indicator means on said support-means at spaced-apart locations at opposite sides of the center of said supportmeans, but within the possible angle of vision of a person located in front of said center of said support-means and intermediate said two spacedapart visual-indicator means; head-positioning means located in front of and intermediate said two spaced-apart visual-indicator means for positioning a persons head; said first visual-indicator means including lights of two difierent colors; on-actuator means for actuating said diiferent colored lights and said second visual-indicator means to on positions; three oil-actuator means adapted to beindependently actuated by a person to independently actuate said different colored lights and said second visual-actuator means to off positions; and time-recording means for recording the lengths of time each color of said lights and said second visual-indicator means remain in on positions.

3. An aptitude tester including: supportmeans; first and second visual-indicator means on said support-means at spaced-apart locations at opposite sides of the center of said supportmeans, but within the possible angle of vision of a person located in front of said center of said support-means and intermediate said two spacedapart visual-indicator means; said first visualindicator means including a group of at least four lights of two difierent colors; on-actuator means for actuating said difierent colored lights and said second visual-indicator meansto on positions; three off-actuator means adapted to be independently actuated by a person to independently actuate said difierent colored lights and said second visual-actuator means to oil positions; and time-recording means for recording the lengths of time each color of said lights and said second visual-indicator means remain in on positions.

HENRY W. WICKES.

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